Knights
by s i n f u l BANANA
Summary: Almost two years of peace, but they knew it wouldn’t last. When a new enemy appears, the senshi find out they may not be able to do it alone. But strange people come to their aid, people that Setsuna had thought dead for sure. ON HOLD UNTIL INSPIRED AGAIN


**Author's note:** It feels like I haven't written in forever… XD As you can see, I decided to erase the previous stories I had written. I'm really starting everything on a new foot. Anyways, I'm not going to ramble on here. I hope you'll enjoy this brand new story. I dunno how often I'll update, but I'll to do so often enough. That is, if people seem to be enjoying it anyways.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the senshi here. However, I do own the Knights that will show up later in the story, and the plot.

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Time.

Wasn't it a complicated concept to understand? A thing that, no matter how many time it was explained, no one could truly understand. The term 'indefinite' was often used to describe it. Just look at the dictionary. Or, with internet these days, was it not even easier to simply research it? But perhaps we're getting away from the subject now. Or perhaps not. As generations progressed, as _time_ passed, technology developed, grew, as did everything else around us. Time acted all around us, in more ways than simply the ticking of a clock, no?

Setsuna could tell you all about it. She had spent most of her life watching over a gate that, according to the Queen who had given her such duty, controlled the time. Now talk about a difficult concept to understand. How could something as simple as a gate control something as big, as unexplainable as time? And yet, it seemed that it did. After all, using this gate, Setsuna was able to travel through one era to another. She had seen people travel through it. She had seen some of the future, though never her own. No guardian was able to see his or her own future. It was one of the rules of the gate. Perhaps it just took out all of the pleasure out of it, all the surprise. Or perhaps seeing one's own death was too horrible for anyone to be able to bear it.

That being said, Setsuna had already died three times. One time was in order to save her Little Lady who had been turned evil because of yet another villain. They had been after Chibi-Usa's silver crystal, or, to be more precise, her mother's, the one she had stolen. In order to help the inner senshi, still so new at what they were doing, she had stopped time. It was against the rules of the gates, and the price to pay had been her own death. But when yet another enemy appeared, and even the reborn outer senshi were not enough, she had been offered a second chance. That one, she had not thrown away so easily. She had stayed alive, fought with the others, and had, afterwards, help raised little Hotaru again. But when Chaos came around, she was not strong enough to fight him. She had died, along with all of her friends, everyone except Usagi, who had been left to fight Galaxia and Chaos alone, with only a little help from the Starlights.

The third time? Well, she was much younger then, still inexperienced. She hadn't been a senshi for very long, and had not been aware of the rules yet. She stopped time when Queen's Serenity's life had been in danger, and had of course suffered the consequences of her actions. What an idiot she was, right? But the Queen had begged to the Gods of time, and for some reason, they had given her another chance, at a cost. She had to forever remain the guardian of time, and her children, grand-children, etc, would do the same. It was a high price, but she was sure that, at some point, she would be able to convince the Gods of Time to change the rules, and make only her the sole guardian of time. She didn't the mind the loneliness, the quiet, the silence… she was used to it by now. And she had discovered that silence could, more often than you could think of, become your friend.

One thing did annoy the green haired senshi of time though. The fact that she had been stuck guarding a gate while she watched the people she loved die. And then she simply watched time pass by, watching the years pass by, wondering when they would all be reborn. She had found most of them now. Setsuna hadn't had many friends, even in the past. She lived a rather recluse life, and no many would actually take the time to come see had at the time gates. Her closest friends had been, without a doubt, the Outer Senshi. None of the Inner would come see her, in the past, because they had a more important duty to fulfill. Now though, now they were much closer to each other. The difference now was that Setsuna hadn't showed them how to get to the time gate without the use of a key, and didn't plan on it. Not unless it really was the only thing she could do. She didn't want to put her friends life in danger, and felt that she could most likely take care of any thing wrong at the gates by herself.

But Setsuna could not fix everything, especially not if time decided to disappear. For the past few days, she had not been able to see anything from the gates. The guardian had stayed away from her family for the past three days, staying at the gate instead, looking for a reason why something of the sort would have happened. It didn't make sense that everything had disappeared. She should have been able to see at least a little something… True, it was possibly that she was too deeply involved in whatever was going to happen that the gates didn't allow her to see. It was also possible that her death was coming, and as such, she could not see. The last option didn't frighten her though. Why would she be afraid of death? Deep inside, she knew the Gods of Time would not let her rest for long. They would bring her back so she could once more watch over their precious gates. It could not remain unprotected for long. None of the senshi would be able to take over either; they didn't possess the powers needed, the needed willpower to stay alone completely to do such a job.

There was only one other reason why time would hide itself from her view. But the only person she knew capable of doing such a thing, of causing it, had died a very long time ago, and she knew he hadn't come back to life the way the senshi had. She would have felt him, would she not? Unless he was hiding himself from her. But why would he decide to do something of the sort? Did he know he was doing so? Was he trying to get some sort of revenge on her, for leaving him so long ago, the way she had? It couldn't be that last part. He was too kind, too understanding for that… right?

Ah! This whole thing was getting much too complicated to understand, even for her, the senshi of time.

Setsuna sighed, and closed her wine colored eyes. It seemed like she wasn't heading home tonight either. It was a good thing that Hotaru wasn't a child anymore. She might have only been fifteen, but she was so much more mature than the other children her age. She could take care of herself. She did most of the time, didn't she? Still only in high school, but already, the teen cared much for everyone else. She still remembered how much she had suffered before, when her father had been possessed. She still regretted her action, having let him down. Now she seemed to have promised herself that she would not let anyone else suffer. The green haired woman knew that the younger girl knew not to go too far though, not to hurt herself in the process.

Besides, she wouldn't really be alone. Michiru and Haruka would be there if she ever needed something. But Setsuna worried about those two. The couple wasn't doing so well, not between each other. It was as though they weren't completely in sync anymore. Perhaps it was because Michiru worried too much all the time about Haruka racing with the F1 drivers. Maybe it was because Haruka spent most of her time complaining that too many men were looking at Michiru strangely. Setsuna didn't doubt that the two cared deeply for each other still. But maybe now that the senshi weren't needed as much, they felt like it was time to distance themselves from each other. And, not wanting to hurt the other, they weren't doing so. But what did Setsuna really know about couples and relationships?

Another sigh came from her. At least the inner senshi seemed to be having less problems. Mamoru had returned to America after Galaxia had been defeated, in order to finish his studies. He still wanted to be a doctor, now more than ever. But he was due back home soon, very soon. He had decided to finish his late year, his clinic year, in Japan. He would work at the Tokyo Hospital, with other doctors, and would soon be ready to be a full doctor. Only one more year to go, right? And he had wanted to be close to the love of his life again. He missed her too much to stay away much longer.

Ami too, still wanted to be a doctor. But unlike Mamoru, she had no plans on leaving Japan. She preferred staying near, should another enemy appear. None had in almost a full two year, but you never knew what might happen, right? Makoto was studying to be a chef with some of the best chefs in Tokyo. Soon, she would be ready to have her own restaurant, one of her dreams. Or at least, to be a chef at a restaurant. Rei was finishing a degree in business, though it was mostly just to help her grandfather to run to shrine. She still had plans on taking over, should her grandfather be unable to take care of it anymore. Minako kept herself busy, with a program in arts at university. She was working on her singing, acting and dancing skills, still hoping to make it big. As a side job, she also did some modeling.

As for Usagi… well she was doing the typical Usagi thing. She had wanted to drop out of school completely, knowing she wouldn't be able to keep up at University. And besides, she would be a queen one day, right? But her friends had convinced her that she needed to keep studying, to be a better queen later. So she did some part-time studying. The rest of the time, she liked helping her friends in any way she could. Most of her time was spent with Setsuna, who had decided to sew again, whenever she had time. If things had stayed quiet, maybe she would have continued her plan of opening her own little designer shop… but not anymore. But Usagi enjoyed modeling for her, helping her make clothing, and Setsuna never refused the, erhem, 'help'.

All of these little things, the fact that life was, for most, going so well, were reasons why Setsuna hadn't told anyone her problems, what she feared might be coming. The outer would know, eventually, of course. They would figure something was wrong with how she hardly spent time at home anymore. But she knew they would keep quiet, at least for a while. They too, didn't want to disturb the peace the inner senshi had achieved. They would talk only if it was the last thing they could do. Even then, Setsuna had no plans on telling them, unless they figured everything out themselves.

Maybe she could find a way to be home for dinner, just so they wouldn't figure it out just yet…

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**Author's note (2):** Yes, it's not exactly amazing, and doesn't tell much of the story. I do apologize for that. Still, I do hope you've enjoyed this little introduction and everything.


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